Linda Sue Park is the daughter of Korean immigrants. Her first work was published when she was 9 years old. Park received an English degree from Stanford and worked as a public-relations writer for an oil company. She later moved to Dublin and taught English as a 2nd language. In 2002 she won the Newbery Medal for her novel A Single Shard. In November of 2010, Park published A Long Walk to Water which is based on Salva Dut's true story. The book was used as a platform to support the program "Water for South Sudan".